The Boy Next Door
by roboticsnerd
Summary: A new family moves in next door to the Dawsons. Somehow, Ally keeps running into the new boy... Probably a little OOC.
1. Chapter 1

"Mom! Where's my new sweater? I left it on the couch!" Ally thumped down the stairs into the kitchen, where her mother was putting away dishes from lunch.

"Um…" her mother didn't even look up. "I moved a pile of stuff from the couch to the laundry room earlier. Check in there." Ally thanked her and turned to leave the room, but was stopped by her mother's voice from behind her. "Oh, Ally! I forgot to mention that the family next door is moving in today! They have a son about your age. If you get the chance, you should go over and say hello."

Ally made a face at the wall in front of her where her mother couldn't see. She was less than enthusiastic about the new family. The couple that used to live there had been the nicest people, and had a young child that was adorable. As far as Ally was concerned, there was no one that could match up to them, and she was still upset that they had to go. She offered her mother a half-hearted acknowledgment, and left to find her sweater.

"I'm serious! I want to go somewhere today. There's been nothing but noise at my house all day! There's moving vans pulling in and out, and they're just leaving boxes all over the place! I don't want to stay here. Can we go to the mall? Please?" Ally was lying on her bed, staring out her window at the house next door. The place reminded her of an anthill, what with the constant stream of people in and out. She rolled her eyes, and focused back on her phone conversation with her friend Trish. "Yeah. Can you come pick me up in fifteen minutes? Ok, see you soon". Ally rolled off her bed as she hung up the phone with one last glance out the window. Wait… Was that… Ally squinted and hopped back up on her bed right next to the window. A new truck had just pulled up and they were unloading a piano and drum set from the back. Looking harder, she could see the glint of metal on the inside of the truck, signifying the presence of other musical instruments.

Her interest was piqued, but she shook it off. She had no interest in getting involved with any of the members of the new family, whatever musical interest there might be.

The sun was setting when Trish dropped Ally off at her house. Ally called a goodbye to her friend as the car pulled away, and Ally hoisted her shopping bags up onto her shoulder.

"Hey, Ani, come back!" Suddenly, something catapulted itself into Ally's side, knocking her over. The shopping bags fell on the ground next to her, items spilling out onto the grass. As Ally tried to push herself back up, she realized there was a person lying on top of her.

"Ani- Oh, I'm so sorry. She's just so excited…" Hands lifted the body off of Ally and placed what Ally now realized was a little girl on her feet. Then, someone offered a hand to Ally to help her up. She looked up, and found herself staring into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. She grasped the hand, and allowed the boy to pull her up. Once she was on her feet again, she dusted herself off, and straightened her shirt, before looking up at the boy, who was rubbing his hand on the back of his neck, looking embarrassed.

She looked closer at him. He was tall, probably over six feet, with blond hair. Overall, he looked like the athletic, surfer type. The little girl looked like a younger, female version of him, with her blond hair held up in a ponytail, and her bright blue eyes that were bright and excited.

"It's ok, no harm done!" She offered him a small smile.

He grinned back at her. "Hi. I'm Austin Moon, and this is Anika. We just moved into the house right over there".

Ally's smile faltered a little, but if there was one thing she was not, it was impolite. She wouldn't be rude to this boy who had just helped her out.

"I'm Ally Dawson. We live in this house here. Guess we're neighbors." She grinned down at the little girl who was now hiding behind Austin's leg. "Hi Anika!"

Austin reached down and lifted the girl into his arms. Anika whispered something in his ear so that Ally couldn't hear, and Austin grinned at her as she buried her face in his shoulder.

"Can you say hello to Ally? She's our new neighbor!" Austin told Anika.

The little girl shyly peeked out from Austin's shoulder and whispered "Hi Ally", before hiding her face again.

"Hi Anika", Ally replied with a smile. She turned back to Austin. "She's adorable."

"She is, isn't she? She's five years old". Austin set Anika down and whispered something in her ear. Anika looked up at Ally shyly and then turned and ran back toward her house.

"Sorry again about earlier. She's been racing around the house all afternoon, and Dad told me her take her outside so she wouldn't hurt herself on all the stuff that's lying around the house right now."

"It's fine. I'm not hurt". Ally smiled at Austin, and then leaned down to pick up the fallen shopping bags. Austin crouched down and began to help her put some of the things back into bags. Suddenly, he froze. Ally looked up to see that his eyes had grown wide.

"What?" She glanced down to see that he was holding a stack of paper, which she realized was some of her new piano sheet music.

"I love these songs!" He flipped through the music, and his eyebrows rose. "Wow, this is some pretty hard stuff. You play?"

Ally nodded, and tucked some hair behind her ear, a little embarrassed. "Yeah. I've played piano for a really long time. I play some other stuff too, but piano's my favorite. What about you?"

"I play all kinds of instruments. I play piano, guitar, violin, plus lots of other stuff. I can even play a trumpet through another trumpet!"

Ally laughed. "I would love to see that!"

She could feel herself warming up to this boy already. At this moment, she couldn't remember exactly why she had been determined not to like this family. It couldn't have been a good reason.

Austin shoved the papers back into the bag he was holding, and then lifted the rest of the bags over his shoulder, ignoring Ally's protests that she could take some.

"It's the least I can do, after I was the reason that you dropped them. Come on!" He started down the long driveway towards her house, not giving Ally the chance to point out that it was his sister, not him who had run into her.

They reached her front door, Ally having to take two steps for every one of Austin's, even when he was carrying multiple heavy bags.

"Thanks." She turned to him.

"No problem. Glad to help!" He handed her the bags. "By the way, do you go the Marino High? Apparently that's where I'm starting on Monday."

"Yeah. I'm a junior there this year," she replied.

"Awesome! Me too. See you around then!" Austin grinned at her, and then shoved his hands in his pockets and walked off back down the driveway.

Ally turned towards her door and fiddled with the handle, unsuccessfully trying to stop the smile that was seemingly permanently plastered on her face.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and especially my mistake with Austin's eye color in the last chapter (oops!). I went back and fixed that. Also realized I forgot the disclaimer, so... I don't own anything in here that you recognize. Enjoy!**

"Ally! Guess what!" Ally was standing at her locker before class on Monday morning, when Trish skidded to a halt next her. Her eyes were glowing in the way they only did when she juicy news to tell.

"Oh! Let me guess… Logan asked Amanda to go the dance with him!" Ally responded with false enthusiasm.

Trish frowned for a second. "Umm… no. That would be cool, but that's not it. There's a new boy in school today! Word is, he's super cute!"

Ally raised her eyebrows at her. "Interesting…"

"Do you not care about this? It's like the coolest thing that's happened since the hot glue gun incident. Nothing ever happens around here. How are you not excited?"

"Trish, I know the guy. The new family has a boy our age. It's just Austin. I already met him. Not that exciting." She turned to walk to her first period class.

"You know him?" Trish sped up to keep up with Ally's fast pace. "So… Is he as hot as everyone says?"

Ally rolled her eyes. "I guess so... He's pretty cute"

"Who's cute?" The voice from behind the girls made them both jump.

Ally mentally face-palmed as she realized who the voice belonged to. "Austin…" In the side of her vision, she saw Trish's eyes widen as the name registered with her.

"So… who were you two talking about?"

Ally laughed nervously as she and Trish turned to address the tall blond boy. "No one! It's just this guy in… um… history class! Yeah! History!"

"Uh huh…" Austin raised an eyebrow at her response. He turned his attention toward the other girl in front of him, who was still staring. "Hi. I'm Austin."

"Um… Trish! Nice to meet you!" Trish managed to pull herself together just as the warning bell rang. "Crap… My first class is way upstairs! I'll see you guys later!" She hurried off, only stopping to mouth to Ally _He's cute!_ Ally once again rolled her eyes at her friend before turning back to Austin.

"So… I had a favor to ask." Austin rubbed the back of his neck, looking at her uncertainly. He produced a piece of paper from his backpack. "I just got my schedule, and I have no idea where any of these room are… I don't know anyone here, so could you maybe…?" He trailed off.

"Oh! Yeah, sure, I can show you around. Let me see." Austin handed her his schedule. She glanced over it, and smiled up at him. "You have the same English as me first. Come on. It's just upstairs."

They made it to class just on time, both taking seats near the back. Mr. Brown just gave them a look as they came in, but otherwise ignored their near tardy. Ally was just getting out her stuff when he started talking.

"Good morning everyone. I hope everyone got enough rest over the weekend! We have a lot to get done today." Mr. Brown was never one for long introductions, or casual conversation. He was all business.

"I'm passing out the explanation of your new project. I want you all to choose one theme found in the novel _Huckleberry Finn_ and talk about how Twain demonstrates that theme in the book. This is a partner project, so pair up. I expect a one page report on your theme by Friday. You will have all week in class to work."

"Hey, Ally." Something poked Ally in the back. She jumped, surprised, and turned to see Austin smiling at her.

"What?"

"Do you want to be my partner?" He asked her, eyes twinkling with amusement at her startled reaction.

"Um… Sure!" She was about to turn her chair around so she could fully face him when someone sat on Austin's desk right in front of her. Inwardly, she groaned. She didn't even have to look to see who the intruder was.

Cassidy.

Ally wasn't blind. She knew Austin was cute. He had the whole surfer vibe going on, and he wasn't exactly out of shape either. She had also noticed Cassidy and her posse whispering in the corner, and their frequent glances at the new boy. She shouldn't have been surprised that Cassidy was trying this now.

Cassidy was the most popular girl at Marino High. Ally didn't like her, having seen her exploit her status as a bully in the past.

"So… It's Austin right?" Cassidy gave Austin a dazzling smile, and flipped her long blond hair over her shoulder. When Austin nodded, her smile grew wider, and she asked "Would you like to be my partner?"

Ally could see Austin's look of slight disgust at her obvious flirting in his eyes, although he kept a polite smile on his face. Apparently though, Cassidy was oblivious, as she just kept watching him happily, waiting for his response.

"Sorry Cassidy. I already asked Ally to be my partner. Maybe next time". Cassidy's face betrayed her surprise for just a moment, along with her horror at being rejected. Then she whirled on Ally.

Ally herself wasn't popular, but she wasn't unpopular either. She had her own group of friends that she was very happy with. She was generally classified as more of a wallflower than anything else, preferring to stay silent than speak up the majority of the time.

She never interacted with Cassidy in even the smallest way. She couldn't remember ever giving the girl any reason to hate her. Because of this, Cassidy's next words came as a surprise.

"Her?! But… but… she's nobody! Nothing! How could you choose her over me?! Austin, nobody likes her. If you choose her as a partner, you're going to be unpopular! Seriously?"

Ally's jaw dropped. That was a little harsh.

Even Austin looked a little taken aback for a second. However, his face soon settled into a stony expression. "Don't talk about my friend like that. I choose who I want to hang out with. And after that outburst, that most definitely will not be you." He took ahold of her arm and gently pushed her off his desk and smiled coolly. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to say no."

Austin then looked at Ally and motioned for her to put her stuff on his desk so that they could work. She did so, suppressing the urge to laugh at Cassidy's stunned expression.

Cassidy quickly realized she was staring, and huffed, turning on her heel to return to her corner of the classroom. Ally looked at Austin with a little bit of awe.

"That was hilarious! I have never seen her look so mad! You are amazing!" Ally couldn't hold back her laughter any more, and was now struggling to catch her breath.

Austin grinned at her. "Hey, she deserved it! I know what her type do, and I don't want to get involved in all that again."

Finally getting her breathing back to normal, Austin's words registered with Ally. "Wait… again? What happened last time?"

Austin just smiled at her. "I'll tell you that story some other day. So… what theme do you want to write about? I was thinking racism."

Ally glared at him for raising her curiosity, but didn't push the question. "Yeah, sure. Racism is good." Silently, however, she resolved to find out more about Austin. Any boy who could talk to Cassidy like that was worth getting to know.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm sorry! I meant to update way sooner than this. My summer has been super crazy so far though. It's like midnight here, and I need to be asleep, but I finally had an idea with this, and I had to write it. I will try to get the next update out soon. Hopefully some time next week. Anyway…**

**Constructive criticism is welcome. I want to improve, so any suggestions would be awesome. I don't own anything you recognize. Hope you enjoy! **

"Crap!" Ally stared at the screen in front of her wide-eyed. The email displayed on her laptop proclaimed that the city bus schedules were changing. In Marino High, the district no longer paid for the school buses. Instead the supplied the students with city bus passes. Normally, Ally preferred this. City buses were less cramped, and smelled better. Plus, the ride was quieter.

Right now, though, was a perfect example of a time she was less than pleased with this system. Her bus she normally took to and from school every day was being canceled. The only other option in her neighborhood was a bus that would come to her stop a full hour earlier.

_This sucks. No way in hell am I getting up at 5:00 to catch a 6 o'clock bus. Maybe I can just walk the two miles to school instead._ Ally was still in a bad mood when she descended the stairs at dinnertime fifteen minutes later.

"So!" The whole family was seated around their dining room table. Ally's family seemed to always enjoy a full-family dinner. Her mother claimed it was the only time she got to talk to everyone at once. Ally usually spent the time trying to match her mother's overly cheerful attitude, and usually failing, as she was doing now. "Anybody have any news from their day?"

"Well, I think Sonic Boom might get that new grant!" Lester Dawson looked up from his plate of pasta and beamed around at his family. Lester owned a music store in the local mall, called Sonic Boom. It was fairly popular, and Ally had always enjoyed being there. In fact, when she began to profess a passion in music, her father had given her the upstairs storage room to transform into a practice room. Ally had spent hours upon hours in that room, and in exchange she worked at the register once or twice a week, and had gotten pulled into teaching a few music lessons, which she enjoyed immensely.

"That's awesome honey!" Her mother looked back at her husband with an equally bright smile. "When will you know for sure?"

"I should hear back by next week for sure. But our only competition is that new music store across town. We've got it in the bag."

"I'm glad. We could use a little bit of extra cash. The holidays are coming up, and Jackson just dropped out of lessons. The grant would be nice. How about you Ally? Any news?"

Ally hesitated. She didn't want to be a downer, but she needed to mention the bus situation, seeing as it would be enacted the next morning.

"Well, I got an email from the city this afternoon. They say they're cancelling my bus. I'm not exactly sure how to get to school tomorrow."

"Oh, honey, did I forget to tell you?" Ally's mother looked at her expectantly. When Ally returned her gaze with a confused look, she continued. "Mimi Moon from next door- you know, Austin's mother- heard about the bus changes, and said that Austin would be happy to give you a ride to and from school for a while."

"Oh." Ally felt much better. This meant that she wouldn't have to wake at an ungodly hour in the morning the next day. "Yeah, that would be great!"

"Good! I'll call Mimi and have her tell Austin." Her mother nodded at her. "He'll be here around 7:15 tomorrow morning. And- No, Alec, don't play with your food! The spoon goes into your mouth, not the ground!" Ally's younger brother had begun to throw his spoon around, obviously decided he had finished his dinner. Ally quietly excused herself from the table, still having homework that needed to be done that night.

The next morning, Ally was already outside when Austin pulled up. He drove a really nice car. Obviously used, but still nice for a highschooler.

"Hey", Ally greeted as she slid into the front seat.

"Hey. How's it going?" Austin glanced over at her and grinned as he pulled out of her driveway.

"Good. I have a stupid test in Pre-Calc today though that I'm not ready for. Ally had been up late last night trying to study until she finally decided that sleep would do her more good than her futile attempts to cram her information into her brain.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. You're smart. I mean, you are in Pre-Calc, right? Just to be even in that class, you have to be really good."

"Yeah, well, I was studying last night, and couldn't even remember even the basic stuff. We'll see though. There's nothing else I can do at this point."

"That's a good philosophy." Austin pressed his lips together thoughtfully as he concentrated on the road in front of him. "Useful for a lot of things, actually."

"Right. I see everyone at school so stressed out and complaining about things they can't control. I get kind of sick of it actually. Everyone's so negative some times. I don't see the point."

"Very true."

As Austin said this, he pulled into the parking lot. Austin parked the car. He grabbed his bag and was out and around the car to Ally's side before she could move. He opened the door for me and motioned for her to step out. "Milady…"

Ally rolled her eyes at him, laughing, and she stepped out and slung her bag over her shoulder. "You're such a dork."

"Guilty as charged." Austin grinned good-naturedly as he caught up to her and slung his arm around her shoulders.

Ally almost stopped walking at the contact. She wasn't used to this kind of forwardness. Austin acted as if they had been friends forever, though it had been barely a week. The strangest part was that it wasn't awkward at all. It felt completely normal, and just seemed to come as part of his open nature. She definitely wasn't complaining either. She loved the lighthearted nature that his cheery attitude seemed to bring to their friendship. It felt so… drama free. A feeling that she desperately needed. After everything that had happened last year…

Ally was torn from her thoughts by the sound of Austin's voice.

"So. That project. I did some research last night, and I think we should include the scene with Jim and – aww… who's that?"

The two had stopped at Ally's locker and she was pulling her Chemistry book out when Austin abruptly changed the subject. She glanced up at him and followed his gaze to the pictures she had taped the inside door of her locker. The one he was staring at was of her and her younger brother Alec. Ally was sitting on the floor of her living room across from Alec, playing a board game. Or at least they were trying to. Ally was trying to teach the boy Candy Land, but Alec had been more interested in trying to eat the cards than actually play the game.

Ally smiled at the memory before answering Austin. "That's my younger brother, Alec. He's three years old."

"That's awesome!"

Ally looked at Austin's face curiously. "You really like kids, don't you?"

He glanced at her sheepishly. "Yeah. There's just something so irresistible about them, you know? They're just so happy all the time, and it's kinda infectious."

Ally smiled at him. "That's really sweet." She shut her locker door and turned to him. "Not many guys would admit to that. It's cool that you can."

Austin grinned at her. "I'm just that cool. Now come on, I'll race you to class." With that, he took off down the hall as the warning bell rang above them.

Ally laughed and sprinted off after him, dodging the other students clogging the hallways. When they arrived at their first class (Austin beating her there), he held the door open for her to enter. Smiling in thanks, she walked past him and sat down in her seat. As he plopped down beside her and began pulling out his materials, Ally realized she had no idea how her opinion had changed so drastically about this boy, but she knew that she was really glad that it had.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long. My life has been so chaotic you wouldn't even believe it. And it's not getting any easier what with school starting again and everything. Advice for anyone in high school: AP classes are hell. Don't take more than one or two at once. **

**I don't feel like this is one my better chapters, but I felt bad leaving you all for so long without an update.**

**Please, please, please review! I'm totally open to constructive criticism.**

**P.S.: someone please tell me how to put the lines/page break things into my writing. I feel like it can be really confusing to read like this. **

Chapter 4

"So" Austin leaned back in his chair. He and Ally were sitting in English working on their project. "I was thinking that we should hang out this weekend".

Ally looked at him with furrowed brows. "Why?"

"Isn't that what friends do?" Austin raised one eyebrow at her. "There's no point in being friends with someone if you only see them at school".

"Um… ok then. What do you want to do?" Ally had learned early on that there was no point arguing with him when he got an idea like this. The boy had an insane stubborn streak.

"Well… can we do something tonight?" At Ally's skeptical look he sat back up and gave her his puppy dog look. "Please? It's Friday, and I really don't want to spend a Friday night at home."

"It's not that, it's just… I've got my volunteer job today. I can't skip it."

"You have a volunteer job? What do you do?" Austin leaned forward, raising his eyebrows.

"It's…" Suddenly Ally got an idea. "You know what? Why don't you come? You would actually really like it." She smiled innocently at him.

"You're not gonna tell me what it is?" He pouted at her. "You're evil, you know that?" Ally just grinned at him.

"Is that a yes?"

"Sure. What time should we leave?"

"So. Where do I go?" Austin raised his eyebrows in a question as Ally slid into his car that afternoon.

"Head down toward the old library. I'll let you know when we get there." Ally responded, still refusing to tell him their destination.

The first few minutes passed in silence. Ally finally turned to Austin and gave him a curious look. "So. First week in Miami is almost over. What's the verdict? Good or bad?"

Austin laughed. "Well, a mix. I'm definitely not used to the weather. Seriously, up in Seattle it used to rain all the time and we were lucky if we reached 80 degrees. Miami's a little hot. But, there's some good things." He glanced at her sideways. "I've met some cool people here".

"Yeah" Ally nodded, agreeing with him. "We do have some cool people at our school. You've talked to Dallas, right? And Elliot. Zack also can—"

Ally was cut off by Austin's laughter. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. As far as she could tell, nothing she had said was funny.

"Ally, I meant you." Austin grinned affectionately at her. "You're pretty cool. All those guys are great, but I love being your friend too."

"Oh." Ally could feel the blush rising up her neck, and fiddled with her hair, desperately fighting the urge to put a lock in her mouth. "Um… Thanks."

"No problem". Austin's eyes turned back to the road. "Just stating the facts".

Ally had no idea what to say to this, but luckily she spotted the turnoff up ahead.

"Up there. Turn left at the next intersection".

They pulled into the parking lot of a small, slightly rundown looking building. Ally got out to see Austin staring wide-eyed at the sign above the door. She giggled at the expression on his face as he turned to her.

"Sunset Daycare? You work at a daycare?"

"Yep. For about six months. Best job ever, isn't it?" Ally had known that he would like it, but was still pleased at his reaction. She turned and headed toward the doorway, calling back to him over her shoulder, "You coming?"

Ally was almost at the door when Austin caught up to her, his face now displaying nothing but excitement. He beat her to the entrance and held the door for her as they walked in.

Ally smiled at the lady in the receptionist desk. "Hello Stella! I brought a friend with me today. Hope that's alright."

Stella smiled kindly at Austin. "Definitely. I'm sure the kids will love it."

Ally led Austin down a narrow hallway, explaining that the kids in the daycare this late were the ones with parents that had to work evening or night shifts. She chattered about the kids. Tommy this, and Karen that. Finally, they reached a door marked _Evening Care_. Ally pushed it open, and was almost immediately swarmed by children. She could briefly see Austin's huge grin before her vision was blocked by another child clambering to be picked up. Ally hoisted the young boy against her side and smiled at him.

"How's it going Peter?"

"Good! I lost my front tooth!" The kid opened his mouth to show her and Ally laughed.

"That's awesome! You're getting big!"

"Yeah! I almost six!" Peter puffed out his chest proudly. As she turned around, Ally noticed Austin was getting inspected. One of the oldest boys was poking at his leg to get his attention.

As she watched, Austin crouched down to be at the child's level. "Hey dude. What's up?"

"Who are you?" the boy asked curiously.

"I'm Austin. I get to hang out with you guys tonight! What's your name?"

"I'm James," the boy responded with a grin.

"Cool name. Hey! You like Spiderman?"

James looked down at his shirt, and then proudly held it out for Austin to see. "Yeah! He's really cool, 'cause he can shoot out of his hands! Like this!" The boy leapt into his Spiderman stance and held out his hand, wrist up, towards Austin. "Pew! Pew! I just got you!"

"Nuh-uh! I'm Superman, and I can break the webs!" Ally laughed as Austin took off running after James.

She realized that this was why he got along so well with children. For all his gentlemanliness and assumed air of maturity, he really was a total child at heart. It was actually a very attractive quality. Which she was observing as a friend. Yeah. Definitely just a friend.

Before she knew it, she was being dragged off to do a puzzle with Peter. They were just finishing the third one when she felt a weight drop over her shoulders, and looked over to see Austin sitting down next to her.

"This is awesome. How come you never told me you work here! I'm hurt that you kept this from me, Ally!" He pouted at her.

She shoved him lightly and he pulled his arm off her shoulder and held his hand over his chest where she had shoved him, his face displaying a wounded expression.

"Shut up!" Ally laughed. "And I guess it just never came up. But you know now! I have a feeling I'm gonna have a hard time keeping you away from now on."

"Yep!" He replied cheerfully. "You're stuck with me now! And—" He was cut off by an impact on his back. Grant, one of the liveliest six-year-olds in the room had taken a flying leap off of a chair onto Austin, seizing him around the waist.

Grant cheered. "Ha! Green Lantern wins! I got Superman! I—"

In one swift movement Austin spun around and grabbed Grant by the stomach, standing and throwing him over his shoulder. He marched over to the couch and deposited the squealing boy on it. As he was about to begin his tickle attack, at least six other children leapt out from their hiding spots around the room and charged at him. Ally laughed as she watched Austin frantically ward off the attacks, and then turned back to Peter.

The time flew by, like it always did when she was here, and before she knew it, the clock showed it to be 10:00 PM. That meant it was time to head back, since she was supposed to be home by 11:00 that night. She excused herself from where she had been playing with one of the younger children, and went to find Austin. He was helping Justin and Alex set up a train set in the corner.

"Austin!" The blonde looked up at her questioningly. "We have to go. I have to be home by eleven."

The blonde's face fell. "But Ally!" he whined.

"Come on. I know you could stay all night, but I gotta go, and you're my ride." She grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet.

They reached the door and announced that they were leaving. Immediately, most of the children surrounded them, giving them hugs. Finally, they removed themselves from the kids and left. Austin draped his arm over her shoulders, and she found herself not even being surprised anymore. It's like this constant contact was almost natural now with him.

"Thanks for bringing me here. That was a lot of fun."

She smiled up at him. "No problem. The kids all loved you".

"I loved them."

They reached the car and Austin held open the passenger door for her, but stopped her with a touch on her arm as she went to get in.

"You know that still doesn't count as hanging out, right? It was fun and all, but we still need to do something else. I kinda got kidnapped by the kids, and didn't talk to you at all."

Ally fought to keep the blush from her cheeks for the second time that day. "Yeah. Same. What do you want to do then?"

"How about you come over tomorrow?" Austin walked around to his side of the car. "I've got a couple things I want to show you."

Ally agreed, and they briefly made plans for the next day during the ride home.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I am so so so sorry! I really don't have any excuse, except that life has been chaotic. I tried to make up for it with a slightly longer chapter, and I will try to have the next one up very soon. I'm still on break, so it's possible. I will definitely try. Enjoy this chapter!**

The next day Ally was making her way up Austin's driveway to meet up with him when the door was thrown open. A little blond blur came hurtling towards her and she barely managed to catch it. The little girl managed to keep her balance by grabbing onto Ally's leg. She was now hiding her face behind the brunette and attempting to make herself as small as possible.

Ally was about to crouch down to ask her what was going on when Austin sauntered out the door. He smiled at her in greeting, before glancing down at the girl hiding behind her leg. Looking back up at Ally he asked, "Have you seen Ani? She's going to be in a lot of trouble when I find her".

Ally stifled her giggle when she felt Anika trying to muffle her squeals of laughter in the back of her leg. "No, I haven't seen her. What has she done this time?"

"She has been a very silly girl, and…" Austin cut himself off when Anika suddenly took off running from behind Ally, racing as fast as she could towards the other end of the yard. Austin ran after her, purposefully moving slower than Ally knew he could.

Anika reached the other end of the yard and circled back around, staying away from Austin as she came barreling back towards Ally. "Ally! Help me!" She was screaming with laughter as she ran.

Ally grinned and reached down to scoop Ani up. Austin jogged up to her and told her sternly, "Hand over the girl, or you'll be sorry".

"Oh really?" she retorted. "What're you going to do if I don't?"

"This!" Austin reached out and grabbed her waist, pulling her down to the ground and making sure that Ani landed safely as he did. He then proceeded to tickle the both of them. Both girls were rolling around on the ground laughing, until Anika managed to escape him, and wriggled around to climb on his back to pull him off of Ally.

Just then however, Mimi Moon appeared at the door, and called to Anika to come inside. Ani reluctantly crawled off of Austin, and ran to the house.

Ally sat up, still giggling, her cheeks flushed. Austin stood up beside her, and offered her a hand. She took it, pulling herself up off the grass. He grinned at her and threw his arm around her shoulders, guiding her into the house.

"Hey"

"Hi," she responded.

"Nice to see you again."

"You too. You know, your sister is really adorable."

"Isn't she? I mean, don't get me wrong, she has her moments. She is five after all. But yeah, she can be really cute."

Austin was leading her through his house at this point. They had walked through the grand living room (Ally didn't remember the house looking this nice when the other family had lived there; it was as if it was a whole new place), and the kitchen, and were headed up the stairs. They entered the first room on the right, and Ally stopped in her tracks, frozen. Austin, because of his arm that was still around her shoulders, nearly tripped at her sudden halt, but recovered quickly. He grinned at the stunned look on her face.

"You like it?"

Ally had to open and close her mouth a few times before she could say anything.

"This is all yours!?"

"Well… it's my family's. Most of it technically belongs to my uncle, but he doesn't have enough room in his house. Believe it or not, these are kinda his leftovers."

"…Wow. This is amazing." Ally took a few more steps into the room, moving as if she was in a trance. The room really was impressive. The walls were covered with posters of bands and musical groups, both the really famous popular ones, and ones that were so well-know, but amazing. Ally had believed she was the only one who knew about some of them. Then there were the instruments. She saw all kinds, from trumpets to drums. There was a microphone in the corner, obviously connected to a setup for recording songs. And then…oh.

The piano.

The _grand_ piano.

Ally crossed the room and sat tentatively at the bench, running her fingers across the keys reverently. Then she pressed a key, just one, and a grin broke out on her face as she heard the clear sound produced by the beautiful instrument. She smiled up at Austin who had come over to stand at the piano.

"Don't tell me this is a 'leftover' too?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No actually. This one was a gift from my parents."

"Wow… what I wouldn't give for a piano like this. The one I have is much older, and slightly out of tune." She smiled down at the keys in front of her, still slightly in awe.

Austin replied easily, "Well you're always welcome to come over here and play on this."

"Thanks. That would be amazing." She grinned at him, eyes shining. He smiled back, before sitting down next to her, before nodding at the piano.

"Go ahead. Play something. You look like you're dying to."

She glanced back at the piano excitedly and thought for a minute. Then, as if an idea was occurring to her, she raised her hands to the keys and began to play.

For the next few minutes, Austin just sat next to her, mesmerized by the way her hands seemed to dance about the keys, producing heavenly music.

As she finished, she turned to him, smiling shyly. "That was amazing. You're so lucky to have this."

"Like I said, you're welcome to come over any time. You're really good."

"Thanks," she blushed, ducking her head briefly, before looking back up at him. "You said you played? Do you do duets at all?"

"Yeah! I have some duet music somewhere…" Austin stood up and moved to the basket in the corner, returning with several books of sheet music. He passed her a stack and began to thumb through the various books. She leafed through a few books, scanning the titles. He seemed to have a lot of Top 40 songs and some classical stuff, and… oh, there it was.

"You have Disney music?"

Austin looked up from his pile of books, and turned a bit red. "Yeah… Here, pass those to me. You can look at these." He made a grab for the books she was holding in an attempt to get them from her, but she turned quickly away from him, standing up to move the books out of his reach. He followed her, trying again to get the books out of her grasp as she walked away from him, turning and twisting around so she could keep looking through the music.

"Hey!" Austin had finally made a successful grab at the music, and managed to pull them from her grip. She laughed as he fumbled with the stack, trying to hide the (multiple) books of Disney beneath other ones. "You know, I actually think that's pretty cool. I love Disney songs, and I swear I have the soundtracks to most of their movies on my iPod."

She watched Austin process this information and smile sheepishly at her.

"Sorry. I just don't want that getting out."

"It's fine. I get it. Actually though, I've met a lot more people who like Disney than you'd think, and – you have this too!?" Ally's eyes had just landed on his CD set. She rushed over and pulled out the top one.

"Okay, first, I love that you still have a CD collection. I thought most people had gotten rid of all of theirs." She turned back to Austin, holding one of the discs in her hand. "Also, I thought no one liked this music but me!" The disc she was holding was from the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.

"Well, I kinda grew up listening to my mom watch that movie all the time, so I heard the soundtrack, like, constantly."

"Me too! My family used to watch this every Thanksgiving, and I've been listening to this music for forever!" Her eyes widened excitedly. "Do you have a CD player?"

"Of course!" Austin took the CD from her hand and started up the player on the shelf next to them. Ally smiled and closed her eyes as the title song started to play. She really did love this music.

"May I have this dance?" She opened her eyes in surprise to see Austin standing in front of her, one hand outstretched, just as in the movie, with the other one behind his back. She laughed, and took his hand. As soon as she did, she was whirled out into the middle of the room. She was laughing too hard to speak, spinning around the room so fast that everything soon became a blur. Austin spun her first out, and then back in, and Ally finally caught her breath.

"I don't think this I how they danced back then Austin," she protested, still giggling as they slowed to a stop.

"Well no, but back then everything was so slow. Their dances don't look as fun," he pouted.

Ally was about to reply when her phone buzzed. She turned away from Austin to check it, sighing when she saw it was from her mother, telling her she needed Ally back to watch Alec for an hour or so.

"Sorry Austin. I have to go. This was a lot of fun though. And this room is seriously awesome."

Austin smiled. "Like I said before, you're welcome any time." He walked back out the front door. "I'll see you before school on Monday."

"See you." Ally began the short walk back to her house, feeling like the smile from that afternoon was permanently plastered on her face.

**A/N: Reviews are awesome!**

**P.S. Still trying to figure out how to do line breaks, so if anyone can let me know, that would be great! Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I am so so so sorry! Life has been so crazy lately, but I know it's been months. I really will try to get the next one up very soon, and it will be summer vacation really soon, so hopefully I will have time. I totally understand if none of you believe me though. But if any readers are left, please do enjoy this chapter! **

Ally hardly seemed to see Austin for the next few days. She was so busy between school and her volunteer job that she barely had time for anything, let alone socializing. She had two major essays due at the end of the week, and a project for English. She got almost no sleep for two the first two nights that week, and it was seeming like Wednesday night wasn't going to be any different.

Ally glanced at the clock, groaning. It read 9:34, and she was barely halfway to her goal for the night. _Looks like I'm gonna be up for a while_, she thought to herself. _I think I need a break though._ She hadn't been able to focus her eyes on the paper in front of her for the last five minutes, staring off into space.

She was sitting in the middle of her practice room at Sonic Boom, papers spread all over the room. Ally had to pick her way around the pieces of her English project, careful not to wreck any of her careful work. She sat at the piano, rifling through her songbooks to find something to play that was upbeat enough to wake her up when she heard a knock on the door. Looking up through blurred eyes, she saw Austin in the doorway, peering around the room, mouth slightly agape as he witnessed the mess of her work.

_Damn. _

The brunette wasn't an idiot. She had seen the worried looks that her friend had been sending her all week as the circles around her eyes darkened. She thought she had done a pretty good job convincing him that she was fine though. The scene this room presented, however, said differently.

Austin crossed the room, careful not to step on any papers. He sat on the bench next to her. Ally stayed silent, not looking at him.

"Ally, what are you doing? When did you sleep last?"

"Austin, seriously, I'm fin-"

"_Ally._"

"Fine. I slept for like two hours last night. And-"

"And were you planning on going to bed anytime soon tonight?"

"…Maybe."

Austin sighed and stood up, offering his hand to her. "Come on. Your dad told me to get you home."

"Where is he? I thought he was downstairs in the shop."

"Apparently he heard about some big sale going on on the other side of the mall just as I walked in. I offered to give you a ride so he could go check it out."

The two knelt on the floor, picking up the papers strewn all around the room. With the two of them working, it was done in only a few minutes. As Ally shoved the last of her papers in her backpack, Austin grabbed it before she could.

As he guided her out of the practice room, she asked, "Wait, what were you doing here then?"

"I was coming to check on you. You've seemed half asleep all week, and I wanted to make sure you were all right." As he was talking, Ally narrowly avoided bumping into the counter, losing her balance. Austin reached out and steadied her. "Apparently you aren't. Ally, seriously, you can't do this to yourself. You really do need sleep to stay alive, you know."

They paused as Austin waited for Ally to find the right key on her key ring to lock up the store. When she finished, he put his arm around her shoulders to guide her out of the mall, half scared that she would just pass out from exhaustion right there.

"I know _that_," Ally responded. "And I'll sleep plenty this weekend when I have everything done."

Austin just frowned at this. They had reached his car, and he helped her into the car before moving around to his side. As he started the car, he glanced over at Ally to see that she had snuggled into the seat, and was already half asleep. But as they moved out of the mall parking lot, she seemed to wake up, and turned to look at him.

"Oh, Austin, I wanted to ask you something. Our family rents out a cabin on a lake about an hour away from here the first week of summer every year. My parents said I could bring a friend this year. Did you want to come?"

"Um, sure, that sounds great!" Austin grinned excitedly. Then, curiously, "Did you not ask Trish?"

Ally laughed sleepily. "Hell no. Trish doesn't do vacations that don't have 24/7 access to wifi and a five star hotel."

Austin chuckled. "Well in that case, I would love to come."

"Awesome."

They pulled up to Ally's house, and Austin parked the car. He walked her to her door, carrying her backpack still.

Ally turned at smiled at him when she reached her door. "Thanks for the ride." She held out her hand. "Can I have my backpack?"

Austin held it out of her reach. "That depends. Are you going to go to sleep, and not just stay up all night working?"

Ally rolled her eyes. "I do have a project due-" Austin raised an eyebrow, cutting her off. "Fine! I'll go to sleep! Happy?"

"Yes." Austin handed her the backpack. "Night."

"Night Austin."

Ally had gotten a ride from her mother to school the next morning, because she was going to work late, and Austin had to be at school early to talk to a teacher. She was walking up to her locker when Trish fell into step beside her.

Trish raised an eyebrow at her. "So, I haven't seen you in days. Where've you been?"

"I've been kinda busy." Ally shrugged as she opened her locker. "Sorry. We need to hang out."

"Have you been busy with _Austin_?" Trish asked excitedly.

Ally just raised an eyebrow. Trish seemed hooked on the idea of getting them together, no matter how much Ally insisted they were just friends. "_No…_ with school. I've barely seen Austin either."

Trish looked disappointed."Awww. I was so hopeful." She pouted for a minute before her face brightened excitedly again. "So, did you hear the news? Apparently, we have a new student. Again."

"Wow, it's like the apocalypse around here. There's something weird going on. Two new students in less than a month?"

"Weird, I know."

Ally shut her locker, and nearly jumped out of her skin when Austin's face came into view directly behind her locker door.

"God Austin! You scared me!"

"Nice to see you to Ally." He grinned at her. Trish excused herself quietly, telling Ally she would catch up with her at lunch.

"So, what's this I hear about a new student? Is there really someone here other than me who hasn't lived here since they were born?"

"Apparently, there is. Don't know anything about them though. Except… Wait." Ally cut herself off, having spotted a girl on the other side of the hall. "I bet that's her."

She was proven right a moment later, when the girl approached them, holding a yellow sheet of paper with her schedule printed on it.

"Excuse me, I'm Brooke. I'm new here today. Any chance you could tell me where room 213 is?"

_ Wow,_ Ally thought. _This new girl is really, really pretty._ It was true, she looked like the typical All-American type of beauty. Blond hair, blue eyes, everything. Even Austin couldn't seem to look away, or answer her question for that matter.

Ally responded instead. "It's just down the hall. First turn on your right."

As Brooked turned to look at her, her face seemed to become forced, and her smile a little more plastic. She glanced quickly between Ally and Austin before replying, "Thanks! I'll see you later!" This last part seemed to be directed at Austin specifically.

Ally frowned as Brooke turned away. She started towards class, dragging Austin along. Something was off about that girl, and as nice as she appeared to be, for some reason, Ally doubted she was going to get along with the girl.

**A/N: Reviews are great!**


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